Nat Twiss | Nat Twiss | Automotive Photographer

Jun

Buttermere

Another day exploring away from the roads. I love this valley. Most of the automotive work in my portfolio is shot in or around here.

It gets great evening light, the road varies from the sparse valleys of Honister Pass to quaint Lake District scenes. It’s really a great place to shoot.

I decided now would be as good a time as any to get out of my car, and go for a walk. And I had a really great time of it. Summer really brings this place to life, all the fields surrounding the village are carpeted in buttercups, the trees and hedgerows are alive and green (for once).

Once you get on the hillside, there are some great views of the village and the surrounding fells, as well as some pretty neat waterfalls.

Jun

Lodore Falls

Sometimes things can hide in plain sight. Behind the Lodore Falls Hotel in Borrowdale, there’s a really great waterfall. I drive past the place fairly often, but until today I’ve totally ignored the waterfalls a short walk from the road.

Apparently the place can turn into a raging torrent after the rains, but it was pretty tame today, which let me climb around on the rocks without too much trouble.

It’s one of my new favourite places, so I’ll probably come back here a few times and see how much in changes. I think this place will look great in autumn, once the leaves are turning red. Although it was nice to see some greens in the Lakes! Sometimes this region can look a little bit dead.

May

British GT – Rockingham, Round 2

The most striking thing about Rockingham this weekend wasn’t the rare May heat and sunshine, or even the great racing – it was the echo of the engines bouncing off the grandstands as the GT machinery tore around the circuit.

See, Rockingham is the only oval speedway circuit in the UK; one of only two in Europe. It’s special. From the main grandstand, you can see across the entire circuit. I can’t think of any other track in the UK that gives you such a good view of the racing.

Which was, as usual for the British GT, fantastic.

This was my first time at Rockingham, and I came to the event expecting the infield to be relatively unchallenging for the GT machinery. Boy, was I wrong. The mixture of low speed, technical corners, often had the cars sliding on the exits. It really separated the men from the boys.

The high kerbs on the final chicane had the cars skipping around on the track.

The infield also had a lot more elevation change than I was expecting, with a few crests here and there.

Also, luckily, the fire came out of the right holes this time!

Watch out for Part 2, where I bring details from the pits and paddock.

Here are a few more images from the event:

If you’re interested in purchasing any of these images, or viewing other images from the event, please contact me here. The images shown here are copyright, and may not be used without consent.

Apr

British GT – Oulton Park, Round 1

Motorbase Performance Porsche

As someone who has spent the past four years as accredited media at the vast majority of the events I’ve photographed, it’s very easy to forget how spoiled for choice we are at circuits. The growing base of enthusiasts have it much harder. I got to spend the day in their shoes this weekend, at the opening round of the British GT Championship at Oulton Park. Having the restrictions was a huge challenge, but I think that it made for some fantastic images.

M-Sport Audi R8

Photographing the drivers and cars in the paddock was a huge challenge. With the teams often closing the fronts of their awnings, and this year shielding the back of their pit garages, I could often only get a fleeting glimpse of the paddock activity.

Used Tyres

It’s the little things.

FF Corse Ferrari 458GT3

Out on track, the Armco made getting the full car in frame a challenge. Improvisation is a good skill to have in these situations.

United Autosports McLaren MP4-12C GT3

There were, however, one or two spots where you could see the cars in their full glory.

MTECH Ferrari 458GT3

One of the great things about Oulton Park is the back end of the circuit, where the circuit runs through some quintessentially British woodland. It certainly made for some interesting compositions.

JRM Performance Nissan GT-R GT3

Especially with some of the springtime greenery. Though the temperature was more like mid-winter!

888Optimum BMW Z4GT3

The sun peeked through once or twice luckily.

IDL-CWS Ginetta G55 GT3

And then the fire of the Ginette helped warm us up a little more! Luckily, the driver got away in time from the blaze.

If you’re interested in purchasing any of these images, or viewing other images from the event, please contact me here. The images shown here are copyright, and may not be used without consent.

Feb

Jaguar XJ-L, Hardknott Pass

Towards the end of last year I did my first real automotive shoot with the stunning Jaguar XJ-L, and to start of 2013 in earnest, I took it out again, this time to Hardknott Pass, for another shot. Here’s a few images from the shoot! More should be on the way soon.

This is also the first entry to my new website, so have a look around! I’m still in the process of updating it, so please contact me if you run into any problems.

Nov

2012 Retrospective Pt.1

For me, the year has finally come to a close. My hunger for all things four-wheeled will now have to wait until 2013, bar a few track days here and there if I’m lucky. As depressing as this is for me, it gives me a good chance to look back at my year, so I can see for myself exactly how far I’ve came since 2011.

And boy, have I went a long way. My year started out in the same vein as it has for the past three – my local springtime rally, the Malcolm Wilson Rally. Muddy lanes through Whinlatter come to life every March to the sound of speed. Incidentally, I would find myself closer to the core of rally more than I ever could have imagined in summer. More on that later…

In April I found myself doing something I’ve wanted to since I first started photography – shooting a GT Event. This one in particular, the British GT Championship, at Outlon Park, was a complete washout. But the rain couldn’t take the smile off my face. Even after the rest of the year has thrown more and more amazing things at me, I still look at this race as one of my favourites of 2012. You can read more about it on MotoIQ.com.

The North beckoned once again and pulled my up to Kielder Forest for the Pirelli International Rally. Although the event was dominated by the smaller Citroen DS3 and Ford Fiesta, it delivered some amazing driving from the European professionals.

And in a turn of events about as abrupt as this sentence, I ended up in Los Angeles. But before that, I made a trip to my local rally powerhouse, M-Sport. This image was shot for an article that was unfortunately never published, but keep an eye out, those images, as well as choice parts of the article, will be on my site in the near future. Keep an eye out!

The second half of the retrospective will take a good, long look at the rest of my year, both back at home, and my two months in America. And then it’ll feel ashamed because 2013 will in no way be able to be as good.

Oct

Jaguar XJ-L

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I found myself back home this weekend, in the English Lake District. With a Jaguar. And a camera, and some of the best scenery in the UK. Aside from this small introduction, I’m going to let the images speak for themselves. All images are captioned with a 1920×1200 resolution wallpaper.

This was my first static, and directed shoot since since I seriously started photographing cars. Only one image in this set uses artificial light, and it was an on-camera speedlight. Shot on Newlands Valley, Buttermere, and Workington.

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Sep

Britcar Pt.3

I arrived at the track on Sunday morning to be met with torrential rain. But it’s not all bad, it makes from some fantastic photos.

The race was coming to a close, and it was quite clear that the field had been thinned out overnight. The rain also made life tough for the more powerful cars in the field, who were constantly losing their rear end through Maggots.

My personal favourite car was still going strong, it seemed.

As was the Bauhaus Aston Martin, which was impressively contending with the GT3 cars in the field.

The cars came through to a stunning finish, with the field in their final order. It was great to see such camaraderie between all of the drivers!

Britcar is another event that’s now on my annual list of things to do! In 2013, I want to try and cover as many long-distance endurance events as possible.

Sep

Britcar Pt.2

As sun set, I made my way back to the paddock. And as soon as I got through the gate, I came across this beautiful Ford GT40. Now, it was obviously a replica, but still an awesome find in the paddock.

By now, the race was well underway, and the teams were settling in for a long night.

Pit strategy is as critical in endurance racing as it is in any other form of motorsport – as soon as the car is stopped in the box, everything is go.

Possibly the most dangerous part of a pit stop is refuelling.

Once the car is topped up, the car takes off, back into the night.

Sep

Britcar Pt.1

Britcar 24 at Silverstone is the first time I’ve ever attended, let alone photographed, a 24 hour endurance race. It won’t be my last.

Silverstone is a vast circuit. I’ve never shot the full track. Even as a spectator at the British Grand Prix in 2007, I’ve always been situated in the Brooklands complex of the circuit.

I absolutely love the varied mix of cars running in the Britcar 24. This classic Porsche was my personal favourite, with a beautiful GT-86 and a Honda Jazz tied for second place.

Silverstone is an odd circuit for me. I’m very used to being close to the cars, but the large, F1-minded runoff areas mean that I’m actually a huge distance from the cars. Except at the entry to the famous Maggots complex. The cars enter at blistering speeds, it’s a great feeling.

There’s a true beauty to racing cars. Sometimes, it’s hard to find. But I’ve yet to photograph a race-built car that I’ve turned away from. The way this chrome-painted Aston Martin GT3 reflected the late afternoon sun put a huge smile on my face.

There’s nothing better than to be bathed in warm light, while race cars tear past you. It’s something I’d only previously experienced while at Pikes Peak, but here, at Silverstone, it happened again.

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